this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2026

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Virginia woman sues Outback Steakhouse after slipping on mashed potatoes (www.pilotonline.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by sundray@lemmus.org to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Also not the Bloomin' Onion.

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[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 84 points 3 weeks ago (6 children)

I'm hesitant to say this is silly. It reminds me of the McDonald's hot coffee incident.

For those unaware, in that case a woman had coffee spilled on her, and she sued saying it was "too hot". What is lesser known about it was:

McDonalds frequently kept coffee at near boiling temperatures to keep it longer
McDonalds had been warned numerous times that this was extremely unsafe and that it was going to hurt someone
The woman's labia was fused shut because the coffee was so hot it melted her underwear and caused permanent scarring
McDonalds is heavily thought to have caused the smear campaign against her to protect their image, shifting blame and making her out to be an idiot who was only looking for a payday.
The woman was asking only for McDonalds to cover her medical bills in her lawsuit.

So jumping out ahead of this one, it seems like she's an idiot, but history tells us that corporations are very cunning and quick to blame the victim.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 45 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I'd also add:

She was hospitalized for EIGHT DAYS
She then had two years of medical treatment
She was looking for $20,000 to cover medical expenses.

The $20,000 included about $10k in medical costs, a few thousand for loss of income and another few thousand for expected medical costs.

McDonalds offered... $800.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 17 points 3 weeks ago (3 children)

To the largest fast food company in the world they couldn't spare 20k to make amends. To them that's a less than a single employee's salary, a fraction of one of their lawyer's salaries. Absolutely pathetic

[–] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Could spare? Yes.

Would spare? This is Ray Kroc’s baby we’re talking about.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 4 points 3 weeks ago

Think of the shareholders!

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 3 weeks ago

McDonald's deals with several legal claims a day. 99.99% of the time, $800 makes people go away.

[–] ecvanalog@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It’s just like the whole thing right now with Brock’s and Minifigs. They could have just made the guy whole in the first place but refused to let a customer make demands.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 1 points 2 weeks ago

I will never understand how a company isn't able to say a simple "sorry, we got it wrong".

That whole thing could have been prevented if that Brock guy hadn't tried to act tough and cross his arms trying to scare him. He could have said "This is hard, I'm not aware of this, but obviously you have a contract here. I'll show you I have the inventory, and tell you what going forward I'll keep a special note when anything is sold, but it's obvious we aren't going to be able to solve this just the two of us here. Let me contact the previous owner and see if we can figure this out."

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 weeks ago

$800

McDonald's just got confused and thought they were covering medical expenses in a civilized country.

[–] MutantTailThing@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Well that was an effective smear campaign then ‘cause I never heard the full story! Though I guess there’s still the woman who put her dog in the microwave in order to dry its fur.

[–] SayJess@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 3 weeks ago

I’d only found out about it a couple of years ago. It makes one wonder what other narratives corporations were able to properly control in the past.

Although the finger-in-the-chili Wendy’s case does not help.

[–] sundray@lemmus.org 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I agree, it's not a silly story, in spite of the headline. I do hope that people are inspired to read it.

FWIW the rules right now don't mention criteria for articles, just for the headlines. I would be on board for stricter standards in article content, if that's what the comm wants though.

[–] Harelipsteve@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I read the article and as someone who is chronically dumb, when I slip on something I don’t fall face first. It’s more of a prat fall and I wing up on my ass.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

Congratulations. Not everyone is you.

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I feel like at the time that was not commonly known, but today it is.

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I hope so, but I still encounter people (mostly boomers) who still think it was some stupid woman

[–] Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

You do raise a good point. Boomers tend to be sheep who have the worst beliefs.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I’m of two minds on this- a slip and fall absolutely can cause significant injuries and death- especially if your head hits, for example, the edge of a table.

Outback’s lawyers are also not denying it ever happened, and instead arguing she failed reasonable care (which is bullshit. Keep your floors clean, ya nasty assholes.)

The reason I’m somewhat skeptical is that 2 years is a long time to wait for a fairly cut and dry lawsuit. It’s possible recovery just took that long, don’t get me wrong. (Occurred in 23, lawsuit filed in 25,)

But usually if it was that bad, the corpos would be pushing for a fast settlement to limit expenses. It’s possible they were in arbitration, and that has failed, but no one really wants a drawn out process. (Except maybe her lawyer. Corpo lawyers are on retainer, so they don’t really get paid more.)

[–] Angryhumanoid@fedinsfw.app 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm afraid you have it backwards. Corporations will stall as long as possible, statistically the longer it takes to go to trial the more likely for the lawsuit to be dropped. Spending more money on lawyers is considered a better investment than paying out earlier and for a lesser amount because it sets precedent and potentially admits fault.

[–] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 0 points 3 weeks ago

yeah. for the corporation, maybe. though 95% of cases all settle out of court and get dropped. Some of that is because they got dragged along. but a lot of that also is that if the corporation deems they're at fault they're going to want to settle every time... and usually try to do that before you get a lawyer telling you how much the claim is worth.

Outback is the defendant, not the plaintiff. There's not much motive for a plaintiff to delay by a year or more outside of recovering/rehab, and trying to settle out of court before filing. that said, you generally have a couple of years at most before the statute of limitations kicks in.

prior to filing a claim against them, there's not a whole lot the corpos can do to slow down a claim from being filed. It's not like you're obligated to go through arbitration, or to seek settlement before hand, or even inform them that you're doing so. (and frequently it's better to not.)

"Slip and Fall" claims are very well established already so they have plenty of information as to how the outcomes going to go, and that means they have an idea of where to put the settlement to minimize their costs. (and your lawyer will have a good idea how to maximize your gain, so, yeah. they really want you to take that lowball before you talk to one.)

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 12 points 3 weeks ago

The Sterling location where the fall allegedly occurred is now permanently closed, according to the chain’s website.

Yeah, probably because they store their mashed potatoes on the floor.

[–] turdburglar@piefed.social 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

well if i knew it was gonna be that kinda party…

[–] Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 2 points 3 weeks ago

[–] baggachipz@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 weeks ago

an incident that allegedly took place on May 14, 2023, at an Outback location in Sterling — a D.C. suburb

Knowing that area, yep, Sterling checks out. So would Manassass or South Riding.

[–] webkitten@piefed.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

Slipping into a vat of mashed potatoes is literally my dream.

[–] curbstickle@anarchist.nexus 1 points 3 weeks ago

I definitely misread that as "sipping" and got really confused for a few moments.

[–] Little1Lost@gehirneimer.de 1 points 3 weeks ago

the content is region locked